Calcium?

[WRASSER]

Ok, i went and bought some purple up. I have been dripping kalk for 6 days now. When I got home I tested my water and it turn up @ 400 ppm. I then added recomended dosage. One cap full for every 50 gal. waited
2 1/2 hrs and tested my water twice to be sure its were its at. It came up to 500 ppm. Now do I stop dripping the kalk so it will come down or will it come down on its own?

 

[pwj1286]

It will go down eventually, try doing a water change.
_________________
Honda Acty

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, i went and bought some purple up. I have been dripping kalk for 6 days now. When I got home I tested my water and it turn up @ 400 ppm. I then added recomended dosage. One cap full for every 50 gal. waited
2 1/2 hrs and tested my water twice to be sure its were its at. It came up to 500 ppm. Now do I stop dripping the kalk so it will come down or will it come down on its own?

I don't know what purple up is. I assume it is some sort of calcium booster? 500 pm for calcium is fine and nothing to worry about actually. What is your Alk readings and PH readings?

Dripping kalk is to maintain your calcium not to raise your levels. I wasn't sure if you were aware of that fact.

 

[WRASSER]

purple up is for purple is for the purple coraline, it is suppose to inhense it

 

[jumpincactus]

500 is nothing to worry about. Depending on your bioload the calcium will come down somewhat on it's own. Like Dave said also you can drip all the kalk you want as it only maintains your calcium levels. Kalkwasser is not recomended to raise levels just keeping them in your target area. Shoot to maintain approx 425 on your calcium and around 7.5-8 DKh on your alkalinity.

Tell me more about purple up. Is it a one component additive or is it a balanced calc and alk booster like Bionic???

 

[WRASSER]

On the bottle it says it is 1)Ionic calcium Immediately raises dissolved calcium levels in the aquarium water. 2)10 micron aragonite targets the live rock surface, where it dissolves in situ,delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium and carbonate right where its needeD, and an Iodine replenishment.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO the same can be accomplised with regular water changes. If you quit dosing the level will come down.

 

[Anonymous]

Kalk + Purple Up = precipitation (potential).

If the Kalk raises the PH too high by removing too much CO2 then adding Purple Up could result in a severe loss of Carbonate (ALK) and Magnesium.

Let's be careful out there.

 

[bleedingthought]

Again, why would you just wait for the calcium to take care of the coraline for you? :?

 

[WRASSER]

I understand, It says on the bottle that the purple up adds magnesium, maybe for that reason, of losing it, I dont know. This is why I am asking.

I havent added calcium to the tank and want to help the coraline that I have never ever been able to grow, yet. So about 5 - 6 weeks ago I did a 90% water change. Added some gorganians. Then added a phosphate reactor, Tech I, dripped kalk and want to help the coraline algea to grow. so I added purple up.
I tested before I added purple up and it was at 400ppm, 2 1/2 hrs. later I tested again and it was at 500ppm
No corals are retracting or getting burned or anything bad. of corse that I know of, everybody is looking good.

What will happen to the tank if carbonate is loo, what will I look for as in signs?

 

[Anonymous]

What will happen to the tank if carbonate is loo, what will I look for as in signs?

Skeleton building organisms (Corals, Coraline, Clams, Snails, etc.) require Calcium and Carbonate to grow. Low Carbonate will make the Calcium unusable as well as depress PH (somewhat). Signs of low Carbonate are Low PH, Low ALK, corals that don't grow, white coraline (dead).

 

[WRASSER]

How do you test for carbonate? Do you just go by the alk and ph test results?

 

[Anonymous]

How do you test for carbonate? Do you just go by the alk and ph test results?

As long as you're not using SeaChem salt then testing Alkalinity will tell you if you have enough Carbonate. NSW is 2.5Meq/L but in our tiny versions of the ocean somewhere in the 3.0 - 4.0 Meq/L is a better level.

In my opinion, a Calcium level of 400, ALK around 3.5 Meq/L and a steady, normal PH (8.0 - 8.5) will allow Coraline to become a nusiance. If it's not growing with those levels then another additive isn't going to help it. It needs time, stables levels, and low Phosphate.

 

[WRASSER]

I do have like one medium rock with it on. My phosphates were through the roof. I bought a reactor to bring it down and try to get the coraline to grow.

Dosen't dripping kalk regulate the ph?

 

[Anonymous]

I do have like one medium rock with it on. My phosphates were through the roof. I bought a reactor to bring it down and try to get the coraline to grow.

Dosen't dripping kalk regulate the ph?

It depends on your definition of "regulate".

The Hydroxide part of limewater will quickly grab CO2 it comes in contact with to produce Carbonate and Bicarbonate. It is the removal of CO2 that causes PH to climb. If you only drip it at night then it tends to balance the typical nightly PH drop. If you drip it during the day then it can raise PH too high if the CO2 isn't replaced by a skimmer or other types of gas exchange.

 

[WRASSER]

OK, so now I think we are getting some what somewhere , I do have an over size proyein skimmer. Have it for 5 years and just had to buy a pump for it. A mag 700 goes with the skimmer.
Will this assist in gas exchange, or will I need something else to assist it?

 

[WRASSER]

Well I tested CARBONATE HARDNESS, The results are in at a 10. So please help me interpid this number as it goes with the PH, ALK. and such.
Where do I go from here or leave it alone?

 

[Anonymous]

Well I tested CARBONATE HARDNESS, The results are in at a 10. So please help me interpid this number as it goes with the PH, ALK. and such.
Where do I go from here or leave it alone?

10 what? I assume it's dKH... that's fine for Calcium levels around 380 - 450.

IMO your coraline just needs time.

 

[WRASSER]

Sorry, yes dKH, I have herd that it shold be between 8 and 12. What happens below 8 and above 12?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, yes dKH, I have herd that it shold be between 8 and 12. What happens below 8 and above 12?

Below 6 dKH there's probably not enough usable carbonate for skeleton building animals. If the PH is also low then their skeletons may actually start to dissolve. This is really bad for corals.

Below 8 dKH the PH will probably fluctuate more than it should. Although natural sea water is typicaly between 7 & 8 dKH our tanks are so much smaller that they need a little help maintaining PH, especially at night.

Above 12 dKH the chance of a precipitation event increases, especially if PH and/or Calcium is also high. If this event is severe enough to deplete magnesium then it can cause a literal snowball effect and pull lots of Calcium right out of the water column. If this were't bad enough it usually drops the PH at the same time and can cause a total tank crash.